The invention relates to printing. More particularly, the invention relates to a method and apparatus for printing warning or security watermarks, in some cases without the need for calibration.
It is desirable to prevent unauthorized copying or use of printed information. Yet the widespread availability of photocopiers make policing such copying and use extremely difficult.
Matched Clustered-Screen Watermarking
One technique that is known for identifying unauthorized copies of original printed material is known as matched clustered-screen watermarking. In matched clustered-screen watermarking, which is primarily intended for press printing, the watermark consists of large warning words of light intensity camouflaged by a background of equal intensity. The foreground, i.e. that portion containing the warning words, is printed using simple cluster-dot screening at 60 to 100 lines-per-inch (lpi) resolution. A screen at this resolution is readily reproduced by available photocopiers. The background is printed using a cluster-dot screen with a typical lpi of 120 or higher. As a result, the dots are smaller but much closer to one another in the background than in the foreground. When the dot spacing is small enough, the optical and digital processing system of typical photocopiers is not able to reproduce the dots reliably. This discrepancy in reproducibility between the foreground and the background translates to a difference in their perceptual intensity, thus rendering the warning words easily visible on the photocopy.
Matched cluster-screen watermarking works well on the press because of several fine tuning means available, e.g., control of ink intensity on the analog press, and manipulation at very high resolution (typically 2400 dots per inch (dpi)) on the digital press. However, these fine tuning means are not visible on ordinary desktop printers (typically 600 dpi, 1-bit per pixel). As a result, when strict cluster screens are used, there are relatively few background levels to choose from, i.e. the requirement of small average dot spacing, i.e. greater than 100 lpi, limits the number of intensity levels that can be achieved on a typical 600 dpi printer, e.g., at 120 lpi there are only 26 possible intensity levels. As a result, an exact match between the foreground and background intensities may not be possible and the watermark cannot be made invisible easily.
Also, the relatively low resolution available limits the number of clustered screen patterns achievable in the foreground and in the background, so that screen mismatches at the boundary between foreground and background may not be easily masked away by changing screens. As a result, there is higher chance that this objectionable boundary is perceived by the casual viewer.
It would be desirable to provide a method and apparatus that allowed the easy matching of background and foreground intensity in typical, e.g., 600 dpi, printers, such that a watermark could be made invisible in an authorized, printed copy of a document, but would become apparent in any photocopies that are made of the printed version of the document. It would also be desirable to provide a method and apparatus for watermarking that did not require a calibration step.